Interests: Digital photography and modeling: modern western armor in 1/35 and modern military aircraft in 1/48.

USERNAME: Vodnik

About VodnikAs first lines of this bio appear under all my reviews, I feel it is important that I start with this information: In March 2005 I ventured into the other side of modeling "industry" - I was not only building model kits, but also helping design them as a consultant for Dragon Models Ltd.. These days from time to time I still support various model kit and aftermarket manufacturers as a technical consultant, although my ties with DML seem to have disappeared in mid 2016.
I built my first plastic models when I was a little kid (in late 70's/early 80's). First models were mostly Czech, Polish and East German plane kits - the only ones available easily behind the Iron Curtain. Paints for models were not available in Poland back then, but East German airliners kits came with a small bottle of silver paint in them, so all my models back then were either unpainted or overall silver :) Since that time I was returning to modeling every few years, with periods when other hobbies dominated between.
Each time I returned to modeling I was trying something else and my skills were constantly improving. Availability of kits, tools and supplies also improved in Poland and finally the Internet arrived and I was able to buy kits, supplies and aftermarket products from all over the world. Initially I was building every kit I could get, but with time I
limited my choices to 1/35 scale modern armor and 1/48 modern jets. For a few years I was assisting Dragon in improving their M4 Sherman family of kits and at that time I also started to buy and build selected World War 2 military vehicle kit, but they are a minority in my stash.
A few years ago I started to also buy some selected 1/32 kits, but I have not built any of them yet...
I started my involvement in Armorama activities by sending a series of photos of the first model I finished in 2003 after the long five years break from modeling: 1/48 MiG-29A. Jim published it as OnDisplay feature on May 22nd, 2003.
I suffer the disease many other modelers know so well - I cannot keep from buying new kits. This means that my collection of unbuilt kits grows ten times faster than my collection of built models. But I found a good explanation for this - I'm not just a modeler, but also a kit collector :) So buying kits is not my problem, this is just my other hobby!
I joined the Armorama Staff as Assistant Editor of Armor/AFV section on June 8th, 2004. From February 16th, 2005 to July 2006 I was Editor-at-Large. After a few months break I returned to Armorama staff as Contributing Editor in March 2007. Now once again I'm only a regular member.